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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26140909">Got Your Back</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Amarxlen/pseuds/Amarxlen'>Amarxlen</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Kingdom Hearts (Video Games)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Comfort, Gen, Melody of Memory, Mom - Freeform, Re:Mind Spoilers, Riku - Freeform, Spoilers, droodle said RiKai rights, i just want RiKai content, kairi - Freeform, look they’re friends okay, melody of memory spoilers, remind spoilers, rikai rights</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-08-27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-08-27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 10:42:09</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>728</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26140909</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Amarxlen/pseuds/Amarxlen</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Sora’s still missing, Kairi’s awake, and Riku understands. In her weakest moments, friends will always have her back.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Kairi &amp; Riku (Kingdom Hearts)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>14</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Got Your Back</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Inspired by this art by @DroodleKey on twitter: <em><a href="https://twitter.com/droodlekey/status/1298951310163578880?s=21">Droodle said RiKai rights</a></em></p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <em>Got Your Back</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em><br/>365 days.</em>
</p>
<p>Her fingers clenched around the edges of the chair that, until recently, she’d been sleeping on. </p>
<p>
  <em> A whole year asleep.</em>
</p>
<p>Deep inside her heart she’d been searching. Searching for answers. For the truth. For anything. </p>
<p>
  <em> For him.</em>
</p>
<p>His last smile was burned in her mind, haunting in its complete lack of fear or sadness. He’d looked at her and she’d seen love, reassurance, and most of all, faith. She’d spent the last year asleep, searching for Sora. And she’d spent the last year failing. A whole year that felt like nothing to her body and everything to her heart, with nothing to show for it. </p>
<p>Kairi squeezed her eyes shut, bringing her palms up and pressing hard against the tears that were escaping, now that Ansem the Wise and Ienzo had left.</p>
<p>Again and again they’d promised to return to each other—a drawing in a secret cave, a good luck charm passed back and forth, a fruit shared on the tree it came from. She had promised to protect him, but how could she do that when she didn’t even know where he was?</p>
<p>She drew in a sharp breath, the final straw breaking, ready to let go of the tears she’d held in for far too long. A gentle hand on her shoulder made her heart skip and she looked up, hopeful and unsurprised all at once when her eyes met Riku’s. He didn’t speak, but the sympathy on his face was enough to cause her tears to finally fall. </p>
<p>“I couldn’t find anything,” she grieved. “I don’t know where he is, or how to bring him back. What’s the point of being a Princess of Light if I can’t actually <em> do </em> anything?”</p>
<p>Her words dissolved into sobs and Riku’s hand tightened on her shoulder. He and Sora has always been strong for her, and she’d always done her best to be strong for them in return. But it had been years of finding each other only to be separated again and despite having slept for a year, she was so, so tired. She just wanted them all to be home, safe and sound on the islands. Her heart ached for it with a gnawing intensity that felt as close to darkness as she could ever be. </p>
<p>“It’s not about being a Princess of Heart,” Riku finally spoke. “It’s about you, and Sora, and the connection between your hearts.”</p>
<p>Kairi looked up at him sharply. All this time, she’d thought the answer laid in the power of light. It had never occurred to her that it could be something both far simpler and more complex than that. Just this—her heart, and his. How they were part of each others’, regardless of time and distance.</p>
<p>She blinked through her tears and then swiped them away with the back of her hand. Riku smiled at her, softer than he used to when he knew he was the best at everything. It was a smile that said “We’re in this together.” As she stood, she had no thought in her mind other than to continue searching. Where, she didn’t know, but she did know the answers weren’t in that basement laboratory. </p>
<p>She didn’t take even a single step before her legs crumbled beneath her. A gasp of surprise slipped past her lips and she tried to catch herself, even as she felt Riku’s arms wrap around to support her. Her lip trembled and she bit back her tears, slumping against Riku’s hold. Instead of fighting her, he helped lower her to the floor. Kairi couldn’t meet his eyes. Here she was again, dead weight to him, to Sora—</p>
<p>“Rest up.” This time, she did look at him, and there was still only patient understanding in his gaze. She watched him quizzically as he released his hold on her, shifting so that they were back to back and she had to crane her neck to see even a bit of him. “I got your back.”</p>
<p>The corners of his lips curled upward in that soft smile, and Kairi felt some of the tension leave her body. Her eyes closed as she leaned heavily against him and despite herself, she found herself smiling slightly too. Riku had her back. Riku was here. And together, they would do anything they had to, to get Sora back.</p>
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